Signal or clip



lit]

Patented Dec. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT UFFl-CE a SIGNAL on I v Robert A. Stewart, Water'towii, 'Massg assigno'r to GeorgeB. Grafi companmflambridge, Mass,

a corporation of Massachusetts 7 Application January .9, 1939, Serial No. 249,830

g 3 Claims. The present invention relates to clips for use as signals in card indexes and for other purposes .and more particularly :to such clips in which a pair of legs are resiliently pressed in contact with each other to forma vise by which the clip may be .firmly attached to the "edge of a. card or the like.

Clips of this character are usually made of .a strip :of metal folded to form a pair of legs con- .tacting toward the lower end of the clip. 'Onerof the legs may :be slightly shorter than the other. In :order ito make the clip readily attachable, :it has been the common praoticeto form theishorter .leg with-an outwardly turned lower .end'provi'ding aspace :between said end and the other leg into which the edge of the card may :be initially entered in position to separate the legs and pass inwardly between them cinder,pressure'fappliedto the upper end of the clip. Such :clips have the desirable feature of ready attachability but have proved troublesome in use in that when a card having such :clip secured thereto is inserted in 1a file, the :outwardly turned end of the *clip leg is liable to catch on :the edge of an adjacent hard, resulting in undesirable displacement of the fc'lip, or clipping of two cards together, :and in general interfering with and slowing the tiling of cards hearing :such clips.

It is the particular object of the present invention to provide an improved clip of the character referred to, so constructed thatiit may be readily pressed into engagement with a car'd iedge but having no turned out ends or other protections whieh icatchoniadiacent cards when the card is manipulated in a file. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description, and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational View on an enlarged scale of a clip having a vise portion constructed according to the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side view and Fig. 3 a rear elevational view of the clip shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational viewof a modified form of clip embodying the invention;

-Fig. 5 is a rear elevational View of the clip shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a front elevational view of another modified form of clip according to the invention;

Fig. '7 is a rear elevational view of the clip shown in Fig. 6.

My invention involves, in general, forming the longer leg of the clip with a depression or notch or recess in its inner surface, at least at one edge .or :the le s-o positioned with respect to the shorter legrand-of such-size as to afford apassage for ready initial entry of -a card edge between the legs and :so :shaped that. the protuberance therebyiorm'ed'on'the outer surface of thelonger leg will :ride over the edge of an adjacent card The notch may take various without catching.

forms, such as the dimple at one :edge-of the longer leg in the clip shown Figs. 1 Ito-.3 or

the grooves extending from side :toside of the leg in 'the clips illustrated :inFi'gs. 4 to 7... Reta-ring now to themirawing, "which illustrates preferred embodiments of the invention, and first to the'embodiment :shown in .Figs. 1 to :3 thereof.

the improved clip may :be formed rout of a fiat strip of resilient metal tbentlintermedi'a'te its whiohileg 2, constituting the :front leg in the drawing, is somewhat shorter than the leg A stab id is struck out of the portion constituting the leg 2 to project upwardly at the :bend 1| and may-zbe colored or marked "with indicia 'to provide a readily visible signal when the clip is at-' tached itotheupper edge or a card in razfile. The.

free end edges cffithe two legs are preferably transversely curved downwardly as shown.

length as at l to .i'onm :a pair of legs 2 and 3, 01?

"Legs 2 an'da3:incline towardeach other from the bend 'l andtniay come into contact at a point 5 adjacent the end of the leg )2. Leg 2 may be lanar tram the point of, contact '5 to its lower end and leg3 may also be planar throughoutits length except for the f-notoh 'oi recess in the form of a samples at one edge or the front face and a corresponding hum-p c an the rear. face;

portion 9 of edge 1, within thedimple, is located intermediate the length of said edge, having its lower portion exposed beyond a lower corner II] of the leg 2 and its upper portion behind the side of leg 2' terminating in said corner. "Preferably the midpoint of the edge portion 9 is in approximate rearward alignment with the tip of corner l0 and is also the deepest part of the filing card or the like may bereadily inserted,

into it under the corner ID of leg 2.

The modified form of clip shown in Figs. 4 and 5 has a short leg II and a long leg l2, contacting near the'lower end of the leg II, and a The surfaces of dimple 6 and hump inner face of the leg l2, the arc of said groove corresponding to that of the curved lower edge 15 of the leg .I l.. The groove, and, corresponding bead IB on the rear face of the leg l2 have their surfaces 'curved longitudinally of the leg I2,

being shown as approximately semi-circular-in cross section. The lower end of the leg H extends partially across the groove |4 preferably to approximately its center line, The groove has 'sufiicient width and depth toipermit-ready in-. sertion of a card edge into the groove under the lower edge l5 of the leg H at any point along said edge. 11

In Figs. 6 and '7 there is shown another modified form of clip according to the invention which has a short leg I! and'a long leg l8 contacting near the lower end of the leg I! and may be formed by bending a fiat strip of 'metal as explained with reference to the clip of Figs. 1 to 3. In this case the clip is shown without a signal tab and it is to be understood that the tab is not an essential feature of the invention. In the longer leg- I8 there is formed a groove or recess 19 in the inner face and corresponding .bead 20 on the outer face like the groove M and bead N5 of Figs. 4 and 5, "except -that,'instead of being arcuate, they extend straight across the leg H3.

The groove I9 is preferably so located that its center line or deepest point is approximately in alignment with the lowest part of the curved end edge 23 of .the shorter leg lLjOr the'groove may be so located that its center line is in approximate alignment withthe lower corners 2i and 22 of the short leg l1.

Inapplying the clips of the invention, the edge of'a card is inserted into a portion of the notch in the longer leg not covered by the shorter leg andthence upward in thenotch under the over- .lying portion of the shorter leg, the clip being tilted forward and then rearward with respect to the card to assist in this operation. The card edge may then be forcedupward-out of the notch to separate and slide between the normally contacting portions of the two legs by downward pressure on the clip until the clip'is fully seated on the card edge. JIhenormally contacting portions of the two clip legs grip the cardbetween them to hold the clip securely on the card,, while the clip is free of projecting edges which will catch on adjacent cards during filing, the protuberance on the outer face of the longer leg having a smooth surface which will ride freely over the edges of adjacent cards in the index.

While I have shown and described several preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited theretoand that variousv changes may be made in the details thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A signal or clip adapted to engage the edge of an'index card or the like, comprising a pair of legs of unequal length connected together at one end and in juxtaposed position to receive and grip a card inserted therebetween from the opposite end, the longer leg having a recessed portion at one edge thereof opposite the end of the shorter leg, said recess providing a space between the longer leg and the end edge of the shorter leg to facilitate entry of a card edge under the portion of the free end of the shorter leg overlying said recess, said longer leg also presenting a substantially flat surface below said recessed portion.

2. A signal or clip adapted to engage the edge of an index card or the like, comprising a pair of legs of unequal length connected together at one end and in juxtaposed position to receive and grip aecard inserted therebetwe-en from the opposite. end, the longerleg having a dimpled portion at one edge thereof opposite the end of the shorter leg, said dimple providing a space between the longer leg and the end'edge of the shorter leg to facilitate entry of a card edge under the portion of the free end of the shorter leg overlying said dimpled portion, said longer leg also presenting a substantially flat surface below said dimple.

3. A signal or clip adapted to engage the edge of an index card or the like, comprising a pair of legs of unequal length connected together at one end and in juxtaposed position to receive and grip a card inserted therebetween from the opposite end, the longer leg having a recessed portion extending from edge to edge thereof opposite theend of the shorter leg, said recessed portion providing a space between the longer leg and the end edge of the shorter leg to facilitate entry of a card edge under the portion of the free end of the shorter leg overlying said recess, said longer leg also presenting a substantially flat surface below said recess.

ROBERT A. STEWART. 

